Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1719

Chapter 1719: Chapter 1719

One by one, they approached. Grace first. Then Zoey. Then Stella. Emma. Natalie. Lucy. Susan. Scarlet. Layla. Rose. Sophie. Each touched it. Each cried out softly - some in wonder, some in pain.

And last was Jude.

When he touched it, the world cracked.

He saw fire. Mountains. Oceans too deep to name. He saw himself standing in the center of a circle of children. He saw storms that could not be escaped. He saw love that broke and rebuilt. He saw death. And then he saw a flower blooming from a corpse, golden and bright.

He gasped, pulling back.

The orb closed.

Amah nodded.

"It has begun."

Then she vanished into the trees.

And the island changed again.

The earth trembled softly beneath their feet - not with violence, but with awakening. A ripple moved outward from where the orb had vanished, like a silent heartbeat pulsing beneath the moss. The trees stirred in response, their leaves rustling not with wind but intent. A thin shaft of golden light beamed from above and locked onto the spot where Amah had stood. Jude felt it in his bones - a gentle summons, not to move, but to listen.

Rose stepped to his side, her gaze fixed on the ground. "Something shifted," she whispered.

"No," Sophie murmured. "Something opened."

Jude knelt and pressed his hand to the moss. The moment his palm made contact, he heard it - not in words, not in sound, but in meaning. A resonance, like a thousand voices speaking at once just below the threshold of thought. It was memory. It was warning. It was invitation.

Lucy crouched beside him, her fingers curling into his. "We’re being guided."

Emma’s voice was quiet, distant, as she stared at the canopy. "I saw the source. It wasn’t a place. It was a pulse. A rhythm. A voice made of light."

Scarlet brushed back her hair and wrapped her arms around herself. "And I saw something else. I saw a crack. A deep one. Like something was hiding inside it."

Natalie turned toward the eastern ridge where the path had first opened. "We’re meant to go deeper."

Rose’s eyes flashed. "Not all of us. Not this time."

That hung in the air for a beat - thick, sharp. A truth none of them wanted to say but all of them felt.

Jude stood slowly. "What do you mean?"

Rose turned to him, her fingers brushing along his shoulder in a touch full of heat and solemnity. "We’ve merged. We’ve danced. We’ve loved. But the island isn’t just a lover - it’s a labyrinth. And some paths... must be walked alone."

"No," Lucy said, clutching Jude’s arm. "We’ve come this far together. We stay together."

Rose’s gaze flicked to her, soft but firm. "We’re not being broken apart. We’re being deepened. This isn’t separation. It’s resonance. We each carry a note of the song. The island wants to hear our voices apart... so it can sing them back together, stronger."

A silence fell. Heavy. Electric.

Then, slowly, Grace stepped forward. "I felt it too. In the vision. I saw myself walking a path alone... but I wasn’t afraid."

Sophie’s brow furrowed. "I saw the same. I was walking down into darkness, but the darkness loved me. It wasn’t empty. It was waiting."

One by one, they spoke.

Zoey saw flames and ash.

Stella saw water and silence.

Emma saw a child made of stars.

Natalie saw herself holding a mirror that reflected only Jude.

Scarlet saw hands - her own - carving shapes into bone.

Susan saw wings. And the moment they touched her, she woke up screaming.

Only Lucy said nothing. Her hand was still tight on Jude’s wrist, her knuckles pale. Her jaw was clenched. But her eyes - her eyes shimmered with tears.

"Lucy..." Jude whispered, turning to face her fully.

"I don’t want to be apart from you," she said. "Not even for a heartbeat."

He cupped her face, his thumb brushing the wetness from her cheek. "Then don’t be. Not in your heart. Not in your soul. But maybe - just maybe - we’re meant to learn something apart, so we can hold more together."

Her lips quivered. She nodded once, then pressed her forehead to his. "Come back to me."

"Always," he promised.

Rose lifted her hand.

The ground responded.

Twelve paths opened in a perfect circle around the clearing - tunnels of golden moss, each leading in a different direction. Each unique. One lined with feathers. One with tiny mirrors. One with petals that moved like breathing lungs. One of glistening obsidian stone. One pulsed faintly with heartbeat rhythms.

The moment the paths appeared, they each knew.

Where to go.

How to begin.

The circle of lovers tightened once more, one final time. Arms linked. Fingers twined. Lips pressed to cheeks, to mouths, to necks. A final kiss. A final whisper.

Then, wordlessly, they stepped onto their paths.

Jude stood alone at the center for a breath longer, turning in place. His wives were already fading into the corridors of the island, each swallowed by their glowing tunnel, each a glowing echo of everything they had shared. He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and stepped onto the path that waited for him.

The moss rose around him. The light turned amber. The warmth was immediate, and then... it began.

He walked.

And as he did, the path changed.

He wasn’t in the forest anymore.

He wasn’t even on the island.

He was in a place of memory.

Of soul.

He saw the boy he’d once been - young, scared, angry.

He saw the man who had loved and failed and loved again.

He saw his wives - their first kisses, their first tears, their first promises.

He saw each one as a thread woven into his skin, into his chest, into his blood.

And then... he saw the island. Not just as it was. But as it could be.

A living tapestry of their dreams.

Of their unity.

Of their surrender.

He fell to his knees.

And the light wrapped around him.